Transformers of World Policy

Nicholas Wapshott’s book on Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, A Political Marriage, offers first hand observations these leaders transformed the world. Drawing on never before published correspondence transcripts, private letters, and telephone calls, he argues that their relationship was much deeper than an alliance of mutual interests.

“Theirs was a political marriage, the bond is based upon ideology and the true meaning of the minds,” he said. Author Wapshott added, “When they met in 1975, they were both between jobs. Reagan finished his two terms as governor of California and had been the favorite conservative to become the Presidential nominee. Reagan and Thatcher both came to positions of leadership when their nations needed them most. Both of them were ‘conviction politicians,’ neither of them were particularly interested in theory. They learned in their lives the lessons they were going to keep. Reagan was the son of a shoe salesman, and Thatcher was the daughter of a corner shop-keeper. The experience of their parents was very important. Thatcher and her sister lived in an attic. There was an outside toilet.” Wapshott noted that Reagan was—to many people’s surprise— a Democrat until the early 1950’s. He said, “He was also a trade unionist, which surprised many people. He saw his father trying to find jobs in the New Deal. Both Thatcher and Reagan have been brought up as Christians. Jack Reagan was a Catholic and was baptized as a Catholic. His mother wasn’t a Catholic. Thatcher was a Methodist. Both lived in communities linked to the Church. Thatcher switched out of Methodism into Anglican Church.”

He said, “The experience of Reagan in Hollywood was very significant. As head of the screenwriters guild, he discovered issues. Thatcher also believed in the rhetoric of the Cold War. Reagan was very short-sighted. He wore contact lenses.”

Wapshott pointed out that Thatcher had just become the new Leader of the Opposition in the old stuffy male-organized Conservative Party, in the House of Commons. “[Reagan and Thatcher] had a meeting which was set for between 20 to 30 minutes,” Wapshott said. He added, “As soon as they started talking, they felt that they soon finished each other’s sentences… They shared each other’s ideas. Even though there have been a lot of movies in the 1940s, Thatcher has never seen a Reagan movie. Dennis, Thatcher’s husband said ‘Margaret, Reagan just talks like you!’”

Heyecan Veziroglu is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run jointly by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.